Easy access & onboarding
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The first couple of minutes often decide your game's success, so let's make them count.
File size and loading
Fast loading is step one of an accessible game. Web players are on every kind of device and connection, so keep your build as small as possible. For engine-specific compression and size-reduction guides, see choosing your web game engine.
- Loading screens: a loading bar gives players a sense of progress. A visually engaging screen with your logo or game art prevents early drop-offs from players mistaking the game for frozen.
- Progressive loading: download only the essentials first (menu, tutorial, first stage) and fetch the rest in the background while the player starts. This sounds like a gimmick; it's one of the most important techniques for success on the web. Drop-off during loading is brutally underestimated.
Onboarding
- Skip the menu. For first-time players especially, skip splash screens, title screens, and level selects. Let them jump straight into the good part. Monkey Mart nails this.
- A safe beginner environment. Start with levels players will easily finish and scale from there. In Subway Surfers, players can't die during onboarding; they just try again until it clicks.
- Explain with visuals. Walls of text intimidate, and English text excludes a lot of our global audience. Use images, animations, and gestures instead. Blumgi Slime has a great visual tutorial.
- Introduce gradually. Reveal actions and buttons over the first few levels instead of front-loading everything at once. Overwhelmed players end their session; eased-in players stay. See Heart Star.
Mobile first
A big share of all Poki gameplays are on mobile, so think about mobile compatibility from day one. Your game can run landscape only, portrait only, or both, but we strongly advise supporting portrait: portrait-playable games see more players enter gameplay on average, and become eligible for Gamebar Display ads, a mobile ad format in the title bar that earns extra without any work from you.